Back to Haunt You
by theatre geek
Summary: Ziva’s past is involved with a case, and Abby is the only one who can help. Spoilers: Through Season 5
1. Coffee

Title: Back to Haunt You

Author: Theatregeek217

Fandom: NCIS

Rating: T now, M Later

Pairing: Abby/Ziva

Summary: Ziva's past is involved with a case, and Abby is the only one who can help.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter: 1 – Coffee

"Ziva!" Abby squealed in her usual way and threw her arms around the Israeli's neck, squeezing tightly.

The two hadn't seen each other since the team was disbanded, so they had telephoned and set up a meeting to get coffee. Ziva had finagled her way into a position for the FBI, in a similar position to that which she had held at NCIS.

After exchanging hellos, the women took their seats across a small table from eachother, and each ordered a cup of coffee.

"How is Gibbs' new team?"

"They're weird. Nothing like you guys. It sucks now. The new director has got it in for me. Gibbs is the only one who comes and sees me anymore in my lab."

"What, Ducky doesn't go in there anymore, either?"

"He's been pretty busy, so I usually go to autopsy if we need to talk. How's the FBI?" She asked with obvious disdain.

"It is what my father warned me about: a lot of useless paperwork. I am glad you could find time to meet me here." Ziva's expression softened, something less unheard of as of late, especially to Abby.

"Just say it. You miss me," Abby joked, not really expecting a response.

"I do. I miss you a lot. This city is not the same here without the team."

"I know what you mean. Ren, one of the agents on the new team, is so annoying. And what kind of a name is Ren, anyway? But this guy is always sucking up to Gibbs, kind of how Tony and McGee used to do, but way more. And Gibbs just shrugs him off. I think Gibbs is actually getting ready to retire again, for good. He just doesn't seem into it much anymore. Oh, god, what if he does? Who's going to bring me Caf-Pow?" Abby was off on one of her self-propelled rants when the coffee came.

Ziva chuckled to herself at how much she missed this woman. She'd gotten used to the energy Abby gave off. The two had gotten off to a rough start at the beginning of their friendship, but over the past few years they had gotten closer.

Abby stopped her ranting just long enough to consume what was probably her 3rd cup of a caffeine-filled beverage for the day, despite it only being 8AM. Ziva took this opportunity to get to business.

"I hear you are working on a new case involving a particular bombing several years ago in Palestine..." She trailed off, hoping to direct Abby's rant in her favor.

Abby set her cup down and shot Ziva a disappointed glare. "And here I thought you just wanted to chat. You know I can't tell you anything without Gibbs' permission. Why don't you go ask him?"

"Because, Abby, then I would have to tell _him_ that I was responsible for that bombing."

A/N: Please review!


	2. Dinner

Title: Back to Haunt You

Title: Back to Haunt You

Author: Theatregeek217

Fandom: NCIS

Rating: T

Pairing: Abby/Ziva

Summary: Ziva's past is involved with a case, and Abby is the only one who can help.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter: 2 – Dinner

A/N: This is turning out a bit less Femslash than I had originally expected. Please review. I really like to hear what you think. Those things keep me writing. Thanks!

Abby and Ziva were still sitting in the coffee shop.

"I'm sure Gibbs would understand. You were acting on orders. And that was a long time ago. Things are different now." Abby reached a hand up to grasp Ziva's, which was resting casually on the table.

Ziva, flinched and began to retract her hand from Abby's touch, but quickly fought the impulse to run. She, instead, relaxed her arm and gripped Abby's hand in her own. "Can you please just tell me what it has to do with the Petty Officer you found dead?"

"We don't really know much right now. I haven't even looked through the evidence the Palestinian government sent over from the bombing." Under Ziva's gaze, though, Abby was easily broken. "But we do think that Petty Officer Young knew something about the bombing and was being bribed to divulge the information. Which, given what you just told me…"

"Makes me the prime suspect. I know. But you must have found fingerprints or DNA at the crime scene, right? And since they are not mine…"

"No. The entire apartment was spotless. Whoever it was must have worn gloves, must have known what they were doing, must have been…

"Trained, professional. I am a trained killer, Abby. Whoever did this was setting me up. I would really appreciate it if you could keep me informed, you know, under the chair."

"-table," Abby corrected her, then paused. "You do know this is highly illegal. Why don't you tell Gibbs? He'll vouch for you."

"The new director hates me. He'll never go for it. I'm already on a short lead in the FBI."

"-short leash." Abby corrected again.

"Yes. Apparently no one there trusts an Israeli chick who could kill them with her bare hands. Please, Abby. I need your help." Ziva looked more helpless than Abby had ever seen her.

Abby took a deep breath, considering her options. "I'll think about it. Can you meet me tonight for dinner? I might know something then."

"You will not tell Gibbs?" Ziva put back on her stern face, having gotten what she wanted. Even as the past few years had changed her, she didn't like to stay vulnerable for too long.

"Cross my heart."

"Alright. I will call you tonight."

That day Abby worked hard to keep the secret. She worked equally as hard to discern evidence that might have anything to do with Petty Officer Young's murder, which Ducky had pronounced was the result of a bullet to the head from an illegal pistol smuggled in from Israel. Just as she was almost finished her initial analyses of the evidence, Abby heard the familiar swoosh of her sliding door open.

"Abs!"

"Gibbs, not now." She was slightly embarrassed that her morning had yielded little useful information. "I haven't got anything for you. All of this stuff the Palestinian government sent over is crap. Half of it's contaminated by poor handling and the other half shows me nothing but lumps of charred concrete and metal."

"Abs…"

"They didn't even manage to bag the detonator. What kind of investigation were they running, anyway?!"

"An investigation of only about the hundredth bombing in the area that year, Abs. And I didn't come down here to ask for anything from there. I came down to ask you to focus on the bullet."

"What bullet?" Abby's heart stopped momentarily at the fear that she had somehow lost evidence.

"This bullet." He held up an evidence bag with a bullet inside.

"But Ducky said there was no bullet in the body, that there was an exit wound."

"It wasn't in the body. We found it lodged in a wall in the apartment. Missed it the first time."

Abby stepped forward to examine the bullet in its plastic baggy, hopeful that it was something Ziva would not have used. When she saw it clearly her hope faded.

"What? Don't you want it?

"Yeah, I'll take it." She took the bag, still let down by her evidence. Whoever set this up was good.

"I thought you'd be excited, Abs."

"It's the same kind Zi…" She stopped herself. "It just all adds up. There's nothing out of place, nothing to discover, nothing hinky."

"Yet," Gibbs corrected her.

Abby smiled. "Yet." She spun back to her computer as Gibbs shuffled off to continue his investigation.

Abby barely heard her cell phone ringing over the music in her lab. It was Ziva calling as promised.

"So where do you want to eat?" Abby didn't even bother saying hi but just got to the point.

"We will eat at my apartment. If we go to a restaurant we may be followed. Your apartment may be bugged."

"God, Ziva, way to have faith in humanity."

"Can you meet me there at 8:00?"

"Sure."

"What did you discover today?" Ziva never beat around the bush. Even before Abby had taken her first bite of lasagna, the Israeli was talking business.

"That I really shouldn't be telling you this."

"Abby—"

"But I will. So far it still looks like a professional job. Possibly a hired hit. There's not much to go on. The scene was pristine. The only DNA or finger prints we found were the victims."

"Weapon?"

"A smuggled pistol from Israel as far as we can tell. This kind is illegal here…but you knew that. The bullet was found lodged in the wall." She spelled out most of what they had discovered.

Ziva thought for a moment and sighed. "That is exactly how I would carry out a hit."

"Are you sure it wasn't another Mossad agent trying to cover the agency's ass? Maybe someone else knew that Young was going to spill. Maybe another Mossad Agent was assigned to protect the secret. The report said that nothing linked the agency to the bombing. I didn't find anything in the evidence to the contrary. It's like Mossad never ordered the bombing at all."

"That's because they didn't. I did."


	3. A Phone Call

Title: Back to Haunt You

Author: Theatregeek217

Fandom: NCIS

Rating: T

Pairing: Abby/Ziva

Summary: Ziva's past is involved with a case, and Abby is the only one who can help.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter: 3

A/N: Sorry for the long break. I'm back and hopefully, I can finish this story soon.

"I ordered the bombing. It is not something I am proud of, Abby."

"Why?"

"If I tell you that, you will be more of a danger to yourself. I trust you, but I have learned not to divulge more than is needed, especially in a case like this. Just do what you need to do. I can take care of myself." Ziva sounded a little snippy.

"But I want to take care of you. I've lost too many friends lately. Maybe if I know why you set the bomb, I can help find who set you up."

Ziva shook her head. "No, you can't. I am the only one who can do that. I just need you to keep me informed of any progress in the case." The look Abby her made her heart melt. She saw tears begin to form in her eyes. That was one thing she could not handle. To avoid having to see her friend cry, Ziva put her arms around Abby and tried to squeeze away the fear, although all she felt Abby expel were tears and sobs.

The next morning in her lab, Abby worked diligently to find the needle in the haystack of worthless evidence from both crime scenes. When she heard her door open, though, it was dread that gripped her heart.

"Gibbs, we need to talk."

"Yes, we do."

"I went through the hair picked up at the scene again. I was able to get DNA off one of the roots, amazingly. I ran the analysis."

"And?"

Abby double clicked on the results to bring the picture on the DNA match up on the plasma. Gibbs stared for a few seconds at the screen before nodding his head once and making his way quickly from the lab. Abby stood for a moment staring at the breathtaking electronic photo of Ziva David.

"You said you wouldn't tell Gibbs!" Ziva sounded furious on the other end of Abby's cell phone.

"I just told him what the evidence told me, Ziva. Your hair was found in the apartment. I shouldn't even be talking to you on the phone. They'll probably be there to bring you here any minute. Then they'll bring up phone records and know that I talked to you. Shit, why did I call you anyway? I wasn't thinking."

"I have to get out of here then."

"No! You can't leave. If you didn't do it, Gibbs will figure it out. I'll keep going through the evidence. Maybe I missed something, some out of place electron."

"I'm stuck, Abby. I don't know what to do." Ziva heard the elevator ring. She took a deep breath. "I think they are here. I have to hang up. I will see you soon, Abby." She closed her phone.

"Officer David." A strange voice called. She had been expecting Gibbs. Instead, she was face-to-face with two male agents; one of whom she guessed was Ren. "Special Agents Luke Thorton and Ren Thomas." They showed their badges proudly. "We would like to speak to you."

"Are you not already doing so?"

"We would like to speak to you at NCIS," Luke corrected himself.

"You mean Gibbs would like to interrogate me." She said calmly. She was careful not to sound too expectant.

"Well, yes. Now please, miss, come with us."

The agents escorted her to the elevator in the NCIS building. Once they stepped off, Ziva felt a flood of memories. She could see the virtually unchanged squad room, but it looked off.

"I know my way," she snapped as Ren tried to grab her arm and lead her.

As she walked through the old building, she remembered the smell of Tony's aftershave, the sound of McGee's fingers clicking furiously on his keyboard, and the last time the team had gathered there. Her eyes followed the staircase, and she half-expected to see her red-haired friend standing on the balcony overlooking her domain.

Ziva broke her daydream as she made her way, followed closely by the boys who had brought her there, to the interrogation room. She sat in the familiar chair for close to 30 minutes and reflected on the many hours she had spent on the other side of the glass with her team members.

Finally, she heard the door handle to her left turn.

"Ziva."

"Gibbs." She didn't have to look.

"I assume you know why you're here."

"I have a suspicion."

"We found your DNA in the apartment of Petty Officer Young after he was murdered."

"And you expect I have something to do with it."

"Well, DNA at a crime scene warrants suspicion. You know that."

Ziva remained silent.

"Did you kill Petty Officer Young?"

"No." Her eyes remained locked to an invisible spot on the mirror in front of her.

"Then how did you hair end up in his apartment when no other DNA aside from Young's was present there?"

"You ask me as if I would know."

The interrogation went on like this for about an hour. Gibbs asked the questions, which Ziva answered just truthfully enough as not to give herself away. If she was going to find this man who had set her up, she needed to be on her own.

Gibbs suddenly opened the door and left her in the room. She wondered if she had slipped and given him reason to review a certain piece of evidence.

Ziva sat there for another hour. She wondered what Gibbs' tactic was, as he knew she would hold up under the most inhumane interrogation techniques.

When Gibbs returned to the room, Ziva got the first word, even before he had shut the door.

"I did not murder Young."

"I know you didn't."

"What?"

"You are a trained assassin. Do you really expect me to believe that you did something as careless as leaving DNA behind?"

"Then why did you have to interrogate me?" Ziva felt hurt and used. She could have gotten so much work done in the 3 hours she had been held there.

"First, I needed to make sure that I was correct. I also was obligated to bring you in based on the DNA we did find. If I hadn't it would have drawn gazes on me that I would rather not have."

"Alright."

"What we need to do now is figure out who did kill Young and why they framed you for it."

"I think I have an idea."

A/N: Please review! Thank you all!


	4. A Hand

Title: Back to Haunt You

Author: Theatregeek217

Fandom: NCIS

Rating: T

Pairing: Abby/Ziva

Summary: Ziva's past is involved with a case, and Abby is the only one who can help.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter: 4

"I was trying to find him when you guys busted into my office. You will find my searches on my computer."

"Why would he frame you for the murder of someone you never knew?"

"Although I never knew Petty Officer Young, he knew me." She took a deep breath. "I suppose I will have to come clean with you. The bombing in Palestine that Young knew about, did you ever figure out whom he was going to rat on? Whom he was going to accuse?"

"No."

"It was me. I planted that bomb. And yes, I know this is going to sound stupid, but it was a long time ago. You will remember that I told you my sister was killed by a hamas suicide bomber. I spent years tracking the men who were involved in the attack. I finally got them at the restaurant that one of them ran. I made sure that the only people killed were those men. I must have let something slip for Young to find out. To this day, I am not sure as to what that thing was."

"And the man you think framed you?"

"I thought of him because he was a friend of mine until my sister was killed and I started talking about revenge. I believe that he was sympathetic to the men who bombed her. I even suspect he may be working for them now. I found a record of him being called Abraham Sargo, but there's no telling what he is called now."

"How did you know about it? How did you get the information on the case?"

"Abby told me. But it is not her fault. I made her tell me about it. I knew what this was about. Once I stumbled across a report that you had requested evidence from the Palestinian government on my bombing, I had to see what could be done."

"We'll check out this guy. In the meantime stay in the building. You are no longer a suspect, but I'd like to have your help when we do bring him in."

Abby heard the door swoosh open. Then she felt a pair of soft hands reach around from behind her and cover her eyes.

"Guess who."

"ZIVA!" Abby's face lit up when she recognized the Israeli's voice and smell. She twirled around and embraced the woman who was standing a little closer than normal. "Aren't you supposed to be up in interrogation right now getting unnecessarily pounded into the floor by Gibbs?"

"He believed me. They are going after the man who I think framed me."

"Oh my god! I was so scared!"

Ziva chuckled at how open Abby was. She place both hands on the goth's cheeks to reassured her. "Abby, it's okay."

And just then Abby kissed her. Realizing what she had done, she quickly pulled away.

"I–I'm sorry, I just…I thought I was never going to see you again. I was afraid I'd never get to—"

Ziva cut her off by closing her lips with her own.

"I have been afraid I would never get to do that since the day I met you," Ziva admitted after she broke the kiss.

After the two finished smiling and chatting, Gibbs called Ziva's cell.

"Alright, I will be right up." She hung up the phone. "They think they have found him. They want me to ID him, and then Gibbs wants to do his interrogation thing. I hope I can watch." She smiled at the possibility.

"I'm glad they found him."

That night, Ziva invited Abby out to a restaurant to celebrate, among other things, the closing of a chapter of her life. The two sat across from eachother at a small table. The smell of Italian food permeated the air around them. But each one noticed nothing but the other.

"Why did you bomb the place anyway?

"The target of the bomb was the one who killed my sister, Tali. I was young and naïve and revengeful. I thought that by taking out this man I would feel that I had completed my debt to her."

"Did you?"

"I am still living with that pain in my heart. That is something you can never avenge." Ziva placed her hand on top of Abby's and needed no more words.

A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! That's it, but please review! Thanks!


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